Balanced Blades
by Claed
Summary: Well, at least it wasn't that bad. For all she knew she could have been reborn into another universe, one where 13 foot whatever titans roamed the street or a notebook could kill someone within seconds. She lucked out, sort of. SI/OC (Temporary Summary)
1. Chapter 1: Baby Life

**I've been inspired by a lot of the other SI in Naruto, Dreaming of Sunshine, Deja Vu no Jutsu, What Doesn't Kill You, Catch Your Breath and a whole lot of other SI's too.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

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Birth...was a weird thing.

Though it was more uncomfortable if you were the one being birthed.

Which she was.

...

Life as a baby was annoying. For one, she didn't have control of any of her limbs and she couldn't understand a single sentence that the adults were saying. It was confusing and frustrating.

Two, her sight wasn't all that great, something she hoped would get better because she absolutely did not want to have to wear glasses again, and it was boring. Like, soooo boring that she hated going to sleep because it was tiring and bland, but being awake was too.

So she was stuck.

At least, she was until she pissed herself because she felt something warm and cold and slimy underneath her skin. She didn't know what it was, and she certainly didn't have it in her previous life but she got used to it.

It wasn't obvious, and sometimes she forgot about it, but whenever she was startled or happy or angry she could feel it get warmer or colder, freeze and boil. It was sort of her only amusement but it required her to act and do work, so it was usually just a nice content calmness because she was too lazy and would honestly rather soak in her boredom then blabber to the air.

At least time went by fast.

When her vision did clear up to be crisp and clean, she finally got take a look at her new home. It wasn't hard to recognize the traditional Japanese house structure mixed with some modern designs. It was quite beautiful really, and probably the first thing she actually liked about this whole being reborn thing.

No later than that did her hearing clear up to. She still didn't quite understand what they were saying - which she now new was some sort of Asian Language - but she was getting a hang of it. It wasn't too hard too pick up, especially when her new mum? mother? Yes, her new mother would point at things while repeating words or used her hands to talk make images or describe what she spoke.

They were actually pretty helpful, but she was kinda stumped because why would they start teaching a what - a five month baby how to talk? Did babies even start talking at five months? Wasn't it like, at six or seven?

Like, what were they expecting, for her to suddenly speak a full formed sentence?

Haha, like that was gonna happen. Buuuuut, she did finally learn her name. She hoped it was her name and she was pretty sure it was hers because whenever her new mother looked at her she repeated it over and over again. It was 'Yuka'. Or 'Yuga?...yeah no, it was 'Yuka', she was sure.

Again, time went by fast and she started to crawl. To say it wasn't a pleasant experience was an understatement. She couldn't count the amount of times she had fallen on her face, or her arms and legs just collapsing underneath her. It wasn't fun, but when she could finally crawl, she had to admit - she must have been one happy and curious baby. She couldn't stop exploring the house.

Sooo life as a baby was sort of annoying, but only when it got boring and she had nothing to do, which seemed to be never nowadays.

* * *

 **...**

 **Short chapter, it's just the first. There was barely anything in here, but I just wanted to establish the baby life. Next will be life as a toddler? I think. Maybe.**

 **Not edited nor beta'd.**

 **Please favourite, follow or review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Konoha and Ninja

**I do not own Naruto**

 **Warning: a few not very detailed SPOLIERS from shipudden, and maybe for Naruto for those haven't gotten up to there.**

* * *

It had already been what, a year or something into her new life? Yuka (she had accepted the name and she had to admit, it sounded pretty - far more prettier than her previous name) really should have been paying attention to the world she now lived in. Surprises were hiding around every corner, just waiting to whack her in the face.

No really, her dad or Otou-san as it was in Japanese (which she finally did recognize when her mother had insisted Yuka call her Oba-san) had been rounding the corner in the hall way when she bumped into him.

Now, he had nothing to do with the world or surprise (it was shock really) - well, actually he did, sorta, but that was because she hadn't seen him since, like ever which was something she'd talk about later.

It was the thing on is forehead.

She had completely disregarded the giant sword on his back, the funny clothing he wore, the golden-orange pupiless eyes and the curious and wary expression on his face for the headband on his forehead.

A cloth headband with an attached metal plate, engraved into it was the symbol of an open whirl and a small triangle attached to the bottom left; in other words, the easily recognizable symbol of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or Konohagaukre no Sato, Konoha for short.

She may have gasped and blabbered and looked like a gob smacked fish, but that didn't seem to deter her Otou-san who got over his shock and picked her up.

Holy shit.

She was reborn into the bloody Naruto-verse.

Again, holy shit.

...

Yuka was calm, happy, and lazy. She had to, since that was how she had always acted around Oba-san. While it would be stupid to disguise yourself as a baby, _helloo_ \- shinobi! It didn't seem too far fetched to think that if she were to suddenly start acting different they might become suspicious or who knows what! (she...was just a _little_ paranoid, but was excited and hung up too on the whole Naruto-verse thing).

She eyed him lazily, wearing her baby, pouty smile and reached up to pull hard on his black hair, not unlike hers. Yuka grinned a gappy smile when he winced. He tried to take her hands away to no avail.

"Ah, no, no, no, Yu-chan. Don't pull peoples hair, it hurts." Oba-san said, her old eyes crinkling in a smile as she pulled the little girl's hands out of the mans hair.

"Unless it's an asshole, then go right ahead!" a young and high pitched voice chirped.

Yuka blinked at the new voice. The stranger shot the floor a stern look. "Language Kanna."

Yuka, curious, leaned over her fathers arm. A girl, maybe nine or ten stood, a mischievous smile on her face. She had a split fringe with side bangs hanging over her _own_ forehead protector that framed her face, tanned skin that was slightly darker than both Oba-san's and the strangers, but shared their pupil-less golden-orange eyes, only 'Kanna's' were more bigger and yet narrowed.

Oba-san huffed a chuckle. "I've tried to wash that mouth of hers but she still won't stop. I've learned to just let her be."

Oh, so she'll let the swearing go but not the gentle hair tugging?

"So, Yu...-chan?" the mans deep voice asked.

"It's Yuka, and if you had decided to stay and look after your daughter after _her mother_ and _your wife_ died instead of doing clan work and taking mission after mission _Kaoru_ , you would know." _what_ a mood swing and oh, Oba-san was _angry_.

But wait, this guy was her dad? And her mother...was dead? Then what the hell did Oba-san mean? (she still wasn't proficient enough in the language, but she was getting there). And why the hell had he not come to visit her before? She was pretty sure that if the mother died the child would be handed over to the father, not some distant relative or whatever.

(She wasn't really feeling anything for this new and apparently dead mother. But that was because she had never met her. Maybe if Yuka had known her more, she could have made an attachment, and instead she was just a little shocked that Oba-san wasn't her new mother. She really should have figured at though since Oba-san was _old_.)

Kaoru winced, tightening his hold on Yuka slightly. "I-uh, I was busy?"

"For a year!"

Yeah, Oba-san was real angry. Yuka just sighed inwardly and relaxed in his grip before he placed her into Kanna's arms. Yuka blinked up at Kanna and grinned in greeting.

"C'mon, let's go. They're gonna have a fight, I betya." Kanna whispered, and they made their way into the more modern dining room.

The dining room was a cozy room. The table, a mix of dark wood and glass was placed in the centre of the room, decorated with coloured candles and two vases of flowers. The actual room though, like the walls and everything was still very Japanese orientated but it didn't hold all the ornaments and instead had many different types of paintings.

It was a pretty artistic room and had glass panels and a glass door where they could see and exit into the small, grassy yard.

Yuka wiggled in Kanna's arms, wanting to be put down and the girl complied. She crawled to the door and tapped it, giving Kanna a hopefully cute, wanting look.

It worked because Kanna just giggled and moved towards her, opening the door.

Outside, Yuka tumbled her way down to the koi pond. There were two in the pond, and boy did she love it when they would come up and nibble her hand. So that's what she was doing, ignoring the other girl in favour for the fish.

Which seemed fine by Kanna, since she just walked near her, surveyed the area before plopping onto the grass to take a nap. Pfft, what a lazyass.

But, it was good, because now she didn't have to amuse the girl and could think. Think about what the hell she was going to do now.

Time to get down to business.

Okay, so first things first: she was in the Naruto universe.

The one where children learned to become ninja and took missions and did cool stuff like walk on water, but did the uncool stuff, like y'know, murder and kill. A universe where everyone seemed to be horribly unlucky and all had some tragic past where they're whole family died or became a child soldier and had a future already written in stone. Chiselled. Chiselled in stone. The amount of luck these people had honestly, - it was practically non-existent.

Secondly, she had to admit, she never got that far in the anime. There was like, what, two hundred or more episodes in the first part? She hadn't gotten further than around a hundred and fifty or something. But then again... she had ended up reading the fan fiction before she even watched the anime or read the manga, so she knew like, a whole ton of spoilers and events. She knew most of the major events, but a lot of the details, like the specific details and characters were lost on her. So that was enough right?

She even knew things from Shippudden! Granted it wasn't a lot since all she knew was that something happened to some one, that basically a lot of the people that died from before canon or the first part came back to life, who Tobi was and the end. Like the _end_ end of the entire series.

But since she had already come to terms with the world and life being real, then she was in for shit. If she decided to kick canon away. Which she planned to do (whether that was because she felt sad for this verse or had nothing better to do, she wasn't sure. She knew she wasn't the most sympathetic or helpful person.). Not fully, because she didn't have intuitiveness for that (which she really regretted, but it couldn't be helped), but the most she planned was probably to just be support, like, become a friend, or y'know...make sure certain people don't defect or die or just whatever.

Horrible and weak plans yes, but she had died a teenager. She didn't have the mind of adult, she couldn't plan carefully or could use her what, her limited knowledge to change everything for the better. She wanted to, and she would if she could, but she was blank. She didn't have the experience or the skill to do what others could do in her position.

The most she _could do_ though _,_ and know _how to do_ were subtle things. She could ask questions, make others question, push things together or into different directions, she knew that. She had unashamedly done that when she was in her previous life, helping too sooth out arguments or try as she would, help them understand why each other did the things someone else did.

It wasn't easy, but it wasn't hard either and was within the limit she knew she had. Being reborn had done nothing for her personality, nothing extra was added and nothing was different; she didn't soak up the knowledge given to her like a sponge or could make leaps of logic and was now a genius. So all in all, she knew herself. Knew herself to the extent a fifteen year old had, but she knew.

Subtle and small things, yes, that's what she'd try to do.

And at least she was doing something. If she hadn't felt anything or watched these characters - no, real people - live their lives and grow, then she wouldn't have done anything. She was selfish, and cowardly, but she just didn't understand how she could really _really_ help anyone.

"What are you thinking about so hard? You're not even two and you've got the same face sensei has on when he's trying to decide what eye-cringing colour he wants to dye his hair next."

Yuka startled, pulled out of her thoughts and looked up. Kanna was laying down on the grass like a starfish, perfectly still and soaking up the sun, but was looking curiously at her. "You gonna answer me?"

Yuka stared, before babbling endlessly. That's basically all she did. Her mental status and stability was okay and somewhat mature, but this baby's body wasn't and her social skills certainly weren't either.

 **...**

 **I'm using the knowledge of Naruto and Shippuden I had when I first thought of this story. I've just been hoarding all the story ideas I had since then, which was like a long time ago and only now am I trying to write it/them.**

 **Sorry since there's so many commas aha, it's my weakness. No sentence feels right without a few commas placed in somewhere.**

 **Not edited.**


	3. Chapter 3: Learning

**I do not own Naruto**

 **Warning: really bad writing...but it'll get better over time, right? Psst, not edited.**

* * *

Yuka sat quietly, looking up with wide eyes filled with curiosity.

Kaoru sat in front of her, looking just a bit awkward. He was even fiddling with the building blocks she had been playing with, keeping his eyes on them instead of looking at her.

It was pretty amusing that someone older, her Otou-san especially, couldn't even look their child in the eye. He was acting as if her, a baby, would bite him.

But then again, from what she took out of the older woman's loud berating and angry scolding, he had _avoided_ her for like, a year.

Yuka looked down at her tanned, chubby fingers that hadn't stopped piling blocks atop each other. It was a sorry excuse of a tower but she was a little proud that she had been able to build something with her shit mobility.

She pouted her lips, thinking. While it was fun to watch him act so awkward and not know what to do, she didn't really know what to do either. Engage in conversation with the target? Gain his attention? Interact with him? But how? She couldn't just demand him to look and-. _Ah._

Now how?

She surveyed the mess of blocks around her and pulled one out and carefully, very carefully placed it onto the edge of the top of her tower. It fell, tumbling down and hitting the the other blocks as it did so. Then the whole tower collapsed.

But instead of grinning, like she wanted to, her pout became bigger and her eyes teared up, making little whimpers.

Kaoru shot up, taking in her almost crying form and the larger mess of blocks and toys on the ground. His hands moved around wildly, hovering over her then over the toys, going back and forth like he didn't know what to do.

Once she started, she couldn't stop. Her whimpers turned into tiny sobs and the tears that had been building up started to trickle down her large cheeks.

At that, Kaoru seemed to have finally made up his mind and picked her up, and awkwardly and maybe just a bit stiffly, patted her back, bouncing her slightly in his lap.

Yuka's tears stopped and she was left with a pout.

"Are... are you okay now?"

She hiccuped and blabber something unintelligible.

Kaoru frowned at her response, calmer now that she had stopped crying. "Can't... can't you speak yet?"

Yuka blinked innocently, her tiny hands rubbing at her soft and starting to redden cheeks.

She watched as he scratched his head, a thoughtful and cautious look covering his young face. Come to think of it, now that she was up close, Kaoru didn't really look old. He was actually pretty young, like around early twenties or so, probably just finished his teen years. A little young to have a child. Hmmm, well that could sort of explain why he hand't really hung around during her first year. Maybe he just couldn't handle looking after a child so young, alone and just after his wife had died.

But that wasn't enough to just not see or visit her. He was her dad! But she wasn't necessarily his child. Well, soulfully and mentally anyways.

She stared at his shirt that he had exchanged his ninja gear for, running some possible reasons when something poked her nose.

She startled and her eyes zoned in on the finger that was tapping her nose lightly.

"Oh good, now what...uh."

Yuka sighed inwardly. She couldn't tell if this was just the awkwardness of suddenly being introduced to your child or if it was just his personality in general, but at least now if people questioned why she was so awkward when she's older, they'd just have to take one glance at her dad to know where she got it from.

 **...**

She wanted to snort.

Finally he was paying her some attention and trying to communicate with her. He wasn't doing very well.

Instead of treating her like a child, a one year old that wouldn't really understand most of what people liked to mutter, he had sat her on the coffee table nearby, sitting a little ways on the floor in front of her.

He was looking at her, and was waving his hands around, pointing at different things and clapping them as he pronounced the syllables to different words.

He was looking at her like she was an adult but was speaking like a child. He looked like he was having a seizure.

Kanna though, didn't seem to be holding back. She had come in sometime after he had started and was sitting in the corner of the living room, giggling and snorting continuously as she hovered over the scrolls, looking up at them every now and then.

Yuka just followed along, she had to learn the rest of this language sometimes soon anyways. Oba-San hadn't really taught her much and they never went over repeating and speaking the actual words.

 **...**

Over the next few days, Kaoru seemed to become just slightly determined and more confident around her. He still flinched a little when ever he saw her, and that didn't seem like it was going to lessen immediately, but he was actively seeking her out and hadn't left house to go anywhere but the backyard.

He was teaching her more words now, since she had actually and finally been able to speak. Kanna and Oba-san joined in sometimes too, and she had to admit, she was very happy about all the attention she was getting.

 **...**

After that, over the next few weeks they covered reading. Matching words to pictures and such. Reading the actually characters of the language though, was _hard_. She constantly mixed some up, forgot others and simply could not figure out what they were supposed to mean.

It was okay though. Kaoru was slightly warming up. He still flinched, but he was now letting her sit close to him, unlike all the other times when she had sat on the table or couch while he sat a bit away in front of her.

Once she had gotten some of the basics of reading, they moved onto writing. This was actually sort of okay. Her motor skills were still shit, but she had been pretty artistic in her last life. She had loved painting and sketching and just drawing what was on her mind, and damn it all if she was going to be shitty at painting here. So she put more effort into this and had fun with her brush and ink.

Though she had to muse, she drew more squiggles and sketch-attempts than she did actual characters. Ah well, she was eager for this so she'd learn it properly in due time.

 **...**

Just how many times did has she said time went by fast? She couldn't remember, but she was saying it again. Time went by _fast_.

She hadn't realised it and now it was her her birthday and she was turning two.

"C'mon, we're going out!"

It was also the day she would finally leave this house. Yuka didn't know what to make of that. She had been stuck in this house, limited to all the rooms and backyard only and was quite content with that.

She also wasn't sure if she wanted to go out with _Kanna_. _Alone._

While the bubbly and devious girl had visited a lot, she had never actually spent time with her. Kanna either sat in the corner of the room, studying whatever or came by dinnertime, staying for a meal or took some food before leaving swiftly. She also never wore anything besides her ninja garb; some sort of short sleeved dress that was bandaged to her waist and had slits up either side of the skirt. It had seemed just a little provocative for an eleven - ten, twelve maybe? - year old, but Yuka saw the full leg, black tights and black shinobi sandals underneath and changed her mind.

Yuka had to guess that she mostly spent the days doing missions and training; just general ninja stuff.

But if she was a ninja, Yuka guessed they thought she was enough protection against whatever; Kaoru had just simply nodded after greeting her a happy birthday, talking about spending time and giving presents later. Bit surprising, since he'd stop the flinching yet didn't seem to want to spend time with her first thing in morning?

Ah well, she could nag him later on.

Kanna picked Yuka up, placing her on her hip and exited the house. It was cold outside, since it was winter, but the sun was out, shining in the sky.

Yuka lazed in her arms, took a good look outside, and blinked.

It was a compound. There were a lot of other houses, with stone paths leading from the front of each house to the main path, but even then she could still make out the large light grey slabs of a tall wall that stretched round behind the houses in the distance until she couldn't seem them continue.

The thing that was the most eye catching - besides all the houses and people ranging from little children to elderly - was the large black symbol painted onto the slab. It was painted on the compound wall and was in clear sight. Two thick, vertical black lines, not too far from each other. They weren't identical though, and the line on the left had more rounded and softer edges that seemed to just barely fade outwards; the line on the right had sharp and clean edges, the black ink together.

A clan. She was apart of a clan.

She frowned. None of the clans she had known from the manga had a clan symbol like that. She was pretty sure there weren't even other clans besides the ones that had been given in canon. Was this some anomaly? Like her being reborn? That thought made her frown deeper. Did that mean there were other people that were reborn here? New and unknown clans to canon didn't just pop up because one person decided to join the universe.

This was certainly an interesting theory, and a bit scary if there were had been other people that had been reborn. What if they like, found out? Would they help her change canon? Or stop her? She didn't think she would know what to do if there were other people.

Yuka was pulled from her thoughts as they moved along the path, past several houses, an elegant and large house that must have belonged to the Head (she promised she'd take time later to appreciate the architecture), a large circle mountain that looked like it was probably the centre of this circular compound and more houses. Most of the members, well the old ones, like adults and elders seemed to bow slightly at them as they passes.

She wondered why, before looking at Kanna.

"-like them, though Kosei is a bit of a teme and-"

Oh what now, don't tell me she's like the clan head or heir or something, Yuka thought.

"Ah! Yuto-san!"

Yuka blinked lazily at the stranger standing in front of her, then her surroundings. Huh, look at that. They were already at the gates of this new clan.

"Kanna-sama, didn't you say that today would be your 'day off'?" he said.

"Yeah, so I could take little Yu-chan around. She's two now. I think." Kanna replied. Yuka huffed inwardly, feeling exasperated. Oba-san and Kaoru had stated that it was her second birthday aloud when Kanna came and forced her into multiple jumpers and jackets.

'Yuto' just shook his head amused and waved to the opening gate. "Don't get lost. If you do, we're not going to look for you."

"Hah, like I could get lost. I have a great sense of direction." Kanna said.

 _I hope so_ , Yuka thought.

Yuto raised an eyebrow as they passed. "If I remember correctly, you once got lost in the Main House. You've lived there since you were born."

Yuka sighed. Something in her gut was telling her...something.

 **...**

And it was right.

Yuka could count the amount of times they've passed the same flower shop, and the same swing set... and the same ramen shop.

At least they were saved.

Or maybe not.

"Uhh, Sensei! W-what brings you here? Haha..." Kanna said, laughing nervously at the end.

Kanna was right, the hair was cringe worthy. It was a bright bright neon purple, and was so loud even when it couldn't speak.

At least that seemed to be the only thing weird about this guy, Yuka observed. He was tall and thick with muscle, wearing the standard Jonin garb; the green flak jacket, the navy dark blue jacket thing, shinobi pants, sandals and protective gloves. Besides his hair he had pale skin, warm brown eyes, and a curious smile.

He snorted, "I overheard that there was a midget carrying a toddler that seems to keep coming back to pass the flower shop and ramen stand over and over again."

Kanna squawked, "And you thought it was me?"

"Of course." he replied airily.

Yuka sat quietly, watching the two bicker. While she could normally be calm and quiet, she wan't exactly patient and these two didn't seem to be stopping any time soon.

"Who the flowa?" she asked loudly, cutting off whatever Kanna had been about to say. The older girl just gave her a look and adjusted Yuka more comfortably on her hip.

Yuka wanted to cringe. It seems whatever filter she had on her mouth in her previous life to stop her idiotic, stupid, weird and awkward comments was gone. Or maybe that was just because she was a baby. She hoped it was that, because if not she didn't think she'd be able to survive for the next however long years of her life without it.

The guy blinked before zoning in on her. They stared at each other for a few seconds (more like a minute when she started to feel cramped) and Yuka was beginning to wonder if he was okay - because who had a stare down with a toddler? - when his face was suddenly in her personal space.

She jumped in Kanna's arms while the older girl just shrieked, "Gah! What the hell Sensei?"

He just grinned and stood back up, bouncing on his heels, not seemingly offended by the flower comment. "She looks just like you, but never mind. Let's go!" and he turned around swiftly, walking fast in a direction completely opposite to the one they had been walking previously.

Kanna glared muttering about how he was such a 'weirdo'. And Yuka didn't know what to make of it.

It didn't matter though, since they were going to follow the 'weirdo' anyways.

 **...**

Despite how cold it was, there were a lot of people wandering down the streets and the corner market places. Like, a lot of people. You'd think that the people of a country that usually and normally was hot and sometimes humid wouldn't be able to push through freezing winters. But they could.

Yuka couldn't though. Oh man it was freezing and she was lucky she was a baby because it meant warm cuddles. Everyone was forced to carry her or else she'd freeze, and they couldn't just let a baby freeze.

The three of them entered a training ground, walking towards two boys that were throwing bits of ice and kunai at each other. It wasn't a serious fight by the looks of it.

That didn't seem to matter though, since in all her two years she, she had actually never seen a weapon before. And that was just...hah?. She wasn't complaining, but she knew her dad was ninja (excluding the giant sword he had when she first saw him; though he rarely seemed to leave to go on a mission or something), she knew Kanna was a ninja, that guard at the compound gate had been a definite ninja. And yet, she'd never actually seen them do something even remotely ninja. Maybe they actually knew that you weren't supposed to let a child play with weapons? Even if they were rubber. (The amount of times she could remember fan fiction of someone in her position and the parents always giving their children rubber weapons. The again that _was_ just fan fiction... Sue her for trying to recall what happened, she could at least try and treat those that she remembered as guidelines for things that maybe she shouldn't do or how things could possibly end up.)

She was staring at them though. They were...cool, and she sort of wished that she had been given a toy kunai or weapon to play with. If she had to be a ninja to play with those then she was even more inclined to be one. It'd be fun, she had dreamed of so many times of using cool weapons and just being a superhero badass in general.

"Pretty cool aren't they?" a voice asked.

She blinked startled, shifting around in Kanna's arms to look for the owner of the voice. It was one of the boys. He wasn't tall or too short, and was standing at eye-level with her. He had pale skin, brown fluffy hair and had large pink eyes. He was smiling though, and if she had been older and was further away she would have squealed at how cute he was.

But she was a baby, so all she did was give him a little grin before directing her lazy eyes to the kunai he was holding up for all the world to see. She still had the mentality of a fifteen year old, she could still appreciate the aesthetically pleasing.

"Uhuh. Wha is?" Yuka asked with a tilt of the head. Her speech was getting better, but she was still having touble pronouncing every sound.

"Well this my little friend is a kunai, maybe if you're good I'll let you play with it." he replied, closing his eyes to add to his smile.

She could hear Kanna snort in ear since she had practically smushed her face against the older girl's.

"Don't sound so perverted you donkey's ass!" the other boy who was in the fight yelled, smacking the one dubbed as 'cutie' on the bad of the head. 'Cutie' pouted, looking up to their sensei, his nose scrunching up. Yuka grinned a little wider, not offended or bothered by the might-be-perverted comment. She could be a bigger one and they were sorta funny.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" he said.

'Cutie' teared up this time and looked to Kanna and Yuka. Instead of answering, the other boy just snorted, "Get outta here Shoshi wants to see that pickle face of yours."

'Cutie', or Soshi (which means the other boy must be Kosei) just huffed and turned away dramatically. Yuka could feel Kanna chuckling, her chest shaking continuously. She tilted her head, Kosei didn't seem like too much of a bastard as Kanna had said.

Their sensei clapped, gaining all of their attention. "Now that you're all done, I do believe we'd like to know the reason why you have a little mini-Kanna with you, Kanna?"

Yuka perked up. Finally she'd know why she'd been dragged out into the cold on her birthday.

"Oh yeah," Kanna gave a closed-eyed smile. "It's Yuka's birthday and I realized she's actually a bit of a loner and doesn't talk to anyone else besides me, Oji-san, or Oba-san. So I decided to take her out so she could meet you guys."

Yuka didn't even so much as blink at that. It was a little mean, and blunt but that was Kanna from what she had seen, and it was actually sort of true. She didn't talk or interact with anyone bust those three and when she wasn't with them she was asleep or playing with her blocks. Still, that sounded really mean in a cheerful way.

Kosei raised an eyebrow, "You call your mini-me-"

"-cousin."

'- _cousin_ , a loner? Dude, she's like one."

" _Two_ , you teme and shut up. Weren't you the one complaining how your sister was a baboons inbred ass?"

A sigh to her right caught Yuka's attention. It was Shoshi, shaking his head like some old man. He caught her staring and gave her a grin. Yuka stared before giving her own baby smile.

They were older than her by years, and sometimes they ended up bickering and arguing more than they spoke level-headedly, but they gave her attention, taught her stuff and helped her, were funny, cool, and while she knew she should've have felt uncomfortable because she wasn't much of a social person and because they weren't what she was used to, she didn't. So by the time she had to go home with Kanna, she was smiling, waving a chubby hand as they left the people she considered her first friends in her new life.

 **...**

 **Ah, world/word building? I wanted to show her sort-of-learning process and making friends. Wanted to show her life, and her family sort of. I know people don't generally like a lot OC's in a story, but when I put an OC/or more I am giving them a purpose, and that clan will have a purpose. You'll just have to wait for the future, but it's apart of this plot, character development and to show what I think of some of others sides of Naruto world are like or are.**

 **As a note, I haven't written anything down about her previous life and how she feels about that. I know that everyone does and that I should get that part over and done with, but I don't want to bring that up at this part of the whole situation. It's a SI/OC, heavily based on me, and I'd say (not speaking for everyone) that I honestly wouldn't think about what I've just lost or left behind, I'd probably ignore it and push far far away and deep down into my brain. I'd be too caught up in the present of what's happening. (Also sort of because my emotional attachments to things aren't that strong or I can just deal with them.)**

 **But yeah, there'll be a time that she'll deal with that, but not now. She's currently ignoring it and pushing it away, so you won't see any explanations besides maybe just a few hints of it when accidentally comes to mind.**

 **This chapter was kinda long. There were moments that I could have stopped at, but it felt to little and I felt like I could write more so there's a lot of different things here. I just hope it flows to you reading.**

 **Follow, Favourite or Review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Chakra

**I do not own Naruto**

 **It's kinda late and I'm sorry, I'm just not very satisfied with this chapter. That and I was working on another thing that I'll hopefully be able to post soon.**

 **Not edited, if you see any grammar, punctuation or spelling etc.. mistakes tell me!**

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Yuka grinned, too preoccupied in stabbing the floor and blocks with her _toy kunai_ to pay attention to Kaoru's speech on what it was and what ninja were after she had asked who used it. She had been wrong, maybe all ninja parents gave their children toy weapons.

The moment the two girls had come back home some time in the afternoon from their little field day, Kaoru had whisked Yuka away, pulling out what she had guess were presents out of nowhere. They had sat on the floor in the middle of the room together to what she guessed was birthday bonding time.

"Are you even listening to me?"

Yuka jolted, surprised. She looked up and gave him a look that looked calm and a little too innocent. "No..." she cooed.

Kaoru's face fell flat. "Fine, we'll talk about something else."

Yuka tilted her head, humming. "Lie wha?"

"Chakra." he said, a little grin lighting up his tanned face.

"Was dat?" of course she already knew, but he didn't know that.

His face fell flat again, but really, what should he have been expecting?

"Well..." he started off, seeming a bit unsure now. "It's-it's your body's life energy. The thing that keeps you up and awake and moving, you'll learn more about it the Academy. It should be easier for you to feel it though. Here, put the toy down." wow, what an in-depth explanation. She did already know, but it would have been nice to have a reminder and more information on it.

Yuka pouted when he pulled it out of her hands, placing it on the floor. Kaoru took her hands in his larger ones, and placed his index fingers on the middle of the palm of hers. Her pout hadn't left, but now she was curious, wondering where this was going.

"Here, I know you understand so listen carefully. When I push down, I want you to imagine that something warm in your hands is sinking, and when I lift my finger back up, I want you to then imagine that warmth floating back up. We can keep doing this until you get it, just take your time." he smiled encouragingly and she just had to return the smile.

They started and he pressed his fingers on her palm gently. While he did so, she tried to imagine a sinking warmth. She was supposed to feel something when she did this, yeah? She pouted harder as they repeated this, pushing and pulling, sinking and floating, down and up, up and down (Kaoru was speaking through the whole thing, running through different idea's). It was't working. She could imagine it, like a warm stone was sinking into mud or water, but she felt nothing in her palms. She could imagine a feather floating upwards, but still there was nothing there.

She could see it, picture it but there was nothing. She frowned, slouching. She wasn't sure how long they had been doing it for, maybe only a few minutes, it couldn't have been long. Maybe she was doing it wrong? If so, what? It had seemed easy before, whatever it was.

She sighed noisily, but sounded more like a huff. Instead of picturing a stone or something, she when to the more obvious and easy choice; her blood (it was there, she just had to picture it and feel it). When he pushed down, she thought of it, pooling up in the centre and slowly becoming heavier that it pushed into the back of her hand. Nothing yet.

Yuka felt him pull his fingers up, and she thought of that warm little puddle gathered on the back of her hands, and pulled it up an- Hah!

She jumped when she felt something warm, comforting and slimy - or was it just squishy? - in her hands. It was moving around, swirling and turning. She stared at her hands - not that she could see the warmth - and then blinked when she realized it was that warm stuff she had felt when she was just born. That was chakra? She had gotten so used to it's feeling when it had come that she forgot about it, forgetting the feel of it and that it was there. Well, now she had a name to it.

"I guess you found it, huh?" Kaoru spoke, pulling her from her thoughts. "That's chakra. When you get older you'll be able to use it, but for now, we're just going to focus on moving it around okay?" he grinned excitedly. She noticed that he was more of a happy and all-grins type of person once he had come out of is sorta-unknown-reasoning-shell.

"Okay."

 **...**

Using chakra must be exhausting, because all she has done was get a feel of it and move it around through her arms and she was already tired. She just wanted to sleep, and Kaoru didn't seem to mind when she fell flat on her face asleep after an hour or two into the exercise. He didn't seem to mind either when he woke her up and placed her at the table filled with food.

That didn't seem to excite her enough though, and so while they - Oba-san, Kaoru and Kanna who decided to eat over - talked about their day and discussed whatever, Yuka was content to just eat slowly and watch them.

Yuka wasn't really sure how she felt about this setting. While she has lived with them for two years already, sitting at a table and just eating and talking like a family was... _weird_. Different. She was sure if it was good different or not though, because on one hand, she liked it. It was warm and comforting to sit with them, listening to them chat and pay her attention. But on the other hand, it brought up memories of her previous family, memories that she had been ignoring.

She didn't want to think about her other family, or her other life besides Naruto (because she was stuck here now, best to keep those memories in mind) so she pushed them far, far away that they fell off a cliff, a cliff where she mentally threw all her problems off. They climbed back up though, every now and then, and when they did she felt guilty, sad, heavy and almost like she didn't really care. She didn't know why, maybe she just wasn't attached to them, which was sick since they were her first family and they had loved her and she had loved them, she knew she did but she just couldn't bring herself to care that they were gone. She felt even more guilt for that though, so she promptly shoved them all of the cliff.

Her face must have been showing some of the guilt or sadness because the attention was on her. Kaoru was looking at her a little concerned, as was Oba-san, but it was Kanna that spoke.

"Still tired from the chakra exercise?" the girl misread, shaking her bangs out of her eyes and gave her a warm smile. "It's okay, it sucks I know but it'll pay off later."

Yuka just blinked before returning that smile, just a little smaller and tired. With a family like these three, it was easier to ignore her previous, but she couldn't ignore the little puddle of guilt pooling.

 **...**

Yuka wondered what her face was expressing. She could distantly hear Kanna laughing in the background, and Kaoru's own chuckles too. She didn't look though, she couldn't because her eyes were closed as she focused on trying to keep the leaf stuck to her forehead. It wasn't working though.

She could barely feel the leaf, but strongly feel the chakra flowing in her fingers instead. It was like it wasn't even there, and so she couldn't grasp on to it, which was frustrating. Yuka huffed, pouting like the two year old she was and ripped the leaf of her head.

She glared at it as best she could, which seemed to be hilarious because she could hear Kanna's laughter pitch higher and pick up faster. Yuka just pouted harder.

"C'mon, just one more try." Kaoru tried.

Yuka gave him a look that made him smile nervously, but conceded and tried balancing the leaf on her finger instead, ignoring Kaoru's first demonstration on his forehead. Maybe he was just showing off and maybe it'd be easier on her finger since it wouldn't be held against another part of her body.

She was wrong.

If this wasn't so real she probably would have been blowing steam out her ears. The leaf was big in comparison to her hand, none the less to her finger, so she didn't have enough of a grasp on the leaf to attach it to herself. Not that she knew how to do that either, because apparently just lacing chakra in between the two like glue didn't work and poking a finger filled with chakra at the tip didn't too.

She really wanted to punch the ground and set the leaf on fire, maybe even throw a tantrum - which would include her aggravated cries and screams and her tiny fist and feet - but she didn't. She had such a bad temper and was horribly inpatient that she _may_ have lost a friend or two in her previous life, but that was years before she had died, and has learned since then how to keep her temper in, which she was doing now. So Yuka calmly took the leaf from her finger, placed it gently in front of Kaoru and turned her attention away from it.

When she couldn't do something, she gave up. And then she would probably pick it back up later if she had the motivation or just really wanted to but couldn't at the moment. So for now, she was done.

This whole idea of becoming a ninja thing seemed just a little more distant than before.

She'd work around that though. She picked up her hobbies (and homework - which now seemed to be leaf and chakra exercise) like she picked up her pencils, she would pick it up, use it for a while and put it away before once again picking them up, use them then maybe lose it or throw it away when she was done. It was a really bad habit. And she just so happened to pick up habits too, except she couldn't throw those away.

Eventually she gave in to Kaoru's coercing and Kanna's sad-attempt at trying to persuade her into doing the exercise.

The leaf just blew up in her face.


	5. Chapter 5: Working those Weapons

**I do not own Naruto. Omagawd it's been so long. Yeah I finally re-wrote this chapter because I realised the previous Chapter five was going to get me nowhere in progress, so I changed it. And wrote a few new chapters. Somehow It got a lot easier midway and ta da!**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

Despite how cool looking they were, swords were heavy as fuck. Even the toy wooden ones for little children to practice with. Damn it wasn't even a sword - just a stick with a handle. Yuka was already seating in her stance, and all she had been doing was hold up the damn thing. She blinked hard, gritting her tiny baby teeth and strained to keep her arms up; she couldn't stop them from wobbling though. Why exactly was she doing this again?

Oh, right.

Apparently kenjutsu was the specialty favoured by the clan. By default that mean it was hers too.

Yuka didn't mind... but now? when she was two? Wasn't that just a _tad_ bit too early to work on something as straining as this?

It probably was, but after getting to watch the few tweens of the clan that did know how to use it, she guessed it was for the best. Because what she watched sure as hell didn't look like the skill you'd gain from just a few years of practising. The 'dance of swords' as she would call it looked too beautiful and dangerous to be something an amateur could do.

She wanted to do that.

She really did.

So Yuka decided she'd suck it up. Even if practising the forms and building her body strength hurt. It pushed far beyond her limits, _well_ beyond them especially considering she had been the laziest and probably most lethargic person to walk the universe. She could only guess that the reason why her movement wasn't so slow here was because of her genetics and her determination to actually _do something_.

Someone out there should have been proud. They really should have; she was throwing away part of her cowardness and fear of responsibility to try and take _canon_ of all things into her own hands.

Yes, she wanted a damn prize when this was all done.

"C'mon Yu-chan, just a few more minutes." Kanna spoke, her tanned form squatting in front of her. The older girls arms rest on her thighs, her pupil-less golden-orange eyes filled with encouragement bore into Yuka's own squinting ones.

They were outside in the clans own _training ground_ , surrounded by the small amount of actual shinobi the clan had. It was kinda big for a clan that seemed to have no more than like, twelve or so ninjas. Then again, the Nakata's as she had learned were more of a civilian clan than ninja. Their old nin's must have died out during the wars or in a mission.

Yuka wanted to smile, but instead she pursed her small pouty lips and pushed further out in the pose, the handle of the thick, wooden stick in her right palm with was high up in the air behind her, while the body of the stick ran down over shoulder blades, following the length of her stretched out left arm. Kanna's and the other teen nin's were pretty encouraging. It made her happy that some people thought she could actually do something like this.

The older shinobi around didn't say much, but she had caught a few smiles her way.

Seconds ticked by and the cheers and little words got louder. The sun was hot and shining on them, and Yuka swore she could feel a drop of sweat rolling down her forehead. In an attempt to make herself comfortable Yuka shifted her feet slightly so all the strain on her back-stretched leg disappeared; putting the brunt of her toddler weight on her other bent one.

"There you go.. there-there- and yes!" Kanna jumped suddenly, her arms stretched upwards and her hands in victory fists. She was grinning widely, her eyes wide and pretty. "Woohoo! You did it!"

Yuka quickly dropped her arm and the wooden stick rolled off it, releasing all the tension out of her shoulders and tendons (and whatever else she stretched while doing her forms) letting her slouch. She plopped onto the red mat, her head slumping back and her eyes closed. _Finally_.

She could hear the little whoops of the other girls; they realised it too.

But - Yuka had to say that the whole thing had been kind of fun. Maybe if exercising or work or just anything in negeranl had been fun like this and gave her what she would describe as an 'adrenaline rush' than she sure would have been more determined to participate (of course only if her friends did and everyone eels looked more like an idiot than she). That didn't mean she wasn't tired right now, cause she sure was.

She could just sink into the ground right about now, maybe even turn into a puddle. Wouldn't that be nice?

"Well, up you get. We have another few hours left." this was the point where Kanna smirked, mischief highlighting her eyes.

 **...**

"That... would make _some_ sense."

Yes, yes it certainly would. Later that day after all the body stretches and clan kenjutsu forms they moved back to the chakra exercises. She still hadn't managed to stick the leaf to her forehead which wasn't worrying at all, but it was that she had been so tired physically that was concerning. Yeah she did a whole bunch of body training but she'd had a thirty minute cool down along with an hour of meditation that her body had almost been back to the way it had been before they started.

So there shouldn't have been any backlash or real heavy fatigue after the chakra control exercise. But there was.

Kaoru was a pretty paranoid guy. Not just in the sense of ninja but also in the sense of 'shit, I'm a father and my child's sick with I don't know what!'. She had realised that he was _that_ type of guy. Like her, but she was agirl. It was like when she got bored and read about disease and then happened to stumble upon the symptoms page. Worst idea ever; she still did even after all the times she became paranoid that she might have some sort of disease even if it was an STD (to which she'd never even had sex) to some illness that wasn't even infectious and had no reason to concern her.

They were actually pretty alike - especially in the sense where they'd both flap their hands when they didn't know what to do.

Right now though, Kaoru looked relaxed, relief pouring from his face and soul.

In front of him and the medic nin, Yuka sat on the edge of the examination table, her face sleepy and her body being physical embodiment of 'laziness and fatigue'.

"It would. Chakra imbalance wouldn't normally be too big of a problem since usually the lacking side would catch up in a few years, but well, the gap between these are far too big and her physical energy isn't even lacking. I'm amazed to be honest." the medic wondered, her tone will with well, wonder and fascination.

"Will this be a problem for the future, you think?" Kaoru asks, worry marking his young face. Yes, he must be around nineteen to really early twenties, Yuka thinks after studying his face. She wasn't too bothered by the problem, just a little annoyed that she now had to work around it.

That wasn't a problem either, because she did know how to work around stupid things but this just meant more effort. The ninja thing had already gotten a little more distant, this was just pushing things further back. A decade may have seemed long, but right now that's all she had to train and get up to a skill level in which she would be able to fend off the real baddies with help.

Not on her own, god no, that was too much. But with help. 'Cause even if she wanted to, she'd never be able to reach a level in which she could take down Orochimaru. And that was it, wasn't it? The pivotal point; the main turning point which sealed everything for the future; the point in time that if she missed, Sasuke would be heading down to that undignified path of a traitor and would lead to another hundred problems for everyone else: the Second Exam of the Chuunin exams.

Yuka could have gone for the massacre, but _really_? There was no way she could save them. She had not an ounce of power that could change their fate. If a thirteen year old couldn't do it, how could a two year old, or a seven year old do it? If she had been born earlier than she would have had a fair shot at fixing that one point - but even then she wasn't too sure.

When Yuka broke it down, most of what she didn't even attempt to try was because she was a coward. She wasn't kidding, she was self-aware and knew all her flaws and perfections like the back of her hand and fingers. She hated them, they made her feel sick, especially knowing that some of them didn't even seem _moral_ , but they were hers and she could hide from them and hide them from anyone else just as much as they made her scared of everything outside.

She was far more selfish and cowardly than anyone realised. Or would ever know. Cowardly and secretly an attention-lover despite her social awkwardness and anxiety, no one was ever going to find out. If she could bury it far beneath whatever personality she showed on the surface, enough that nobody had ever realised the hints that said she _wasn't_ fine and independent, than they'd never know here either. Even if they were ninja. She was a far better actor than them.

"Only if her physical energy doesn't grow more than what it is. If anything having that much spiritual chakra is a large advantage to have if she gets interested into become a medic nin or at least dabbling at it. It could work even for genjutsu." the medic said, writing a few notes on his clipboard. "She will likely have a problem with jutsu, but that can be fixed if she trains enough physically and practices her chakra control till it's fine."

"B-but that was part of the problem. She gets too tired after even trying to do the exercises." Kaoru blabs, and Yuka pushes down the urge to snort, choosing to just nod off.

"It's okay. Just have her train physically harder and heat healthy before you try them. The fatigue should stop after she get some sort of control and doesn't waste too much chunks of chakra she uses for it. Try to cut down on her meditation though, limit it to only a few hours a week. If her mental energy keeps growing it might just take up the allotted space for the physical. Not likely, but you never know." the medic shrugs here, and he and Kaoru share a few more words before Yuka feels herself being picked up and placed in warm arms.

As informative as that was, she was pretty tired and this arm was pretty comfy. The last thing she focused on before losing it to unconsciousness was Kaoru's scent of apples and varnished wood.

 **...**

The next couple weeks after that short visit to the hospital were what Yuka would describe as hell. At first it had seemed all right, but soon it was just hour after hour and form after form that it was really diminishing her excitement. The only thing that was keeping her happy now was that her chakra control must have been getting better because she wasn't as tired as she had been when she tried using it.

Oh, she still was, but it wasn't as bad as it had been and it was getting better.

She would still compare this alike to hell though.

"You're gettin' there. Better than me when I was your age, I think." Kanna said one afternoon after they had finished training. It was late, but the sun was still up though low enough that parts of the sky were turning orange. Yuka was thankful that for once there was a cool breeze. It blew past them, letting their sweaty bodies cool down and black-as-night hair fly gently in the air.

Kanna had started joining her on her session. The older girl had only joined for the first day and then after that on the weekends only. Yuka sometimes forgot that the older girl was apart of a team; it was just that she had spent so much time with her that it weird when she wasn't there and it made Yuka happy when she was.

Kanna was what Yuka would describe as an older sister. Sort of. She could only go off the words of previous friends considering that they mostly had older sisters while she was the eldest of three herself. You could say she liked it, the fact that she actually had someone to look up to. Yuka wouldn't go that far, but Kanna was like that role model that you'd love to be as well; badass and a bit funky.

Not role model though, older sister it was now. Yuka had never needed a role model or hero and she wouldn't now. She didn't find the use in one and nor did she actually have or ever made such a strong attachment to put someone on that pedestal. Her phony independency was her everything, and it was a matter of her pride, shame and embarrassment that wouldn't let go of it.

"'Woo sink?" Yuka slurred, curiosity tilting her high pitched voice. She felt relaxed and calm enough to talk. She rarely did so here. Maybe when she had started testing out words she spoke more, but that was only to get the language down. Even now her words sort of slurred together; she guessed it was because her brain was far more used to speaking English - a language where she had once had a speech impediment and also tended to glue and slur letters together as well. Now she would prefer not to talk; not unless she was sure nobody would judge and she wouldn't make a fool out of herself.

Too bad she was a bit too paranoid to even be sure she was safe from humiliation and fear of judgment and rejection, so her talking was almost nadda. And when she did, it was pretty awkward. She actually had to work to keep conversation flowing and find topics that whoever she spoke to were interested in.

Besides, a few words correctly placed and perfectly timed could be subtle enough. And if she was comfortable enough she knew few subtlety done actions would work too. She didn't really care right now.

"Yeah, I had been sooooo lazy when I was little." Kanna sighed happily.

"Why?" cooed Yuka.

"Ugh, it was so hard and boring is why." Kanna moaned with a pout, falling dramatically onto her back. "I don't even know how you do it. I had to keep stopping for breaks and sleep for hours in between."

"'Weally?" Yuka's nose crinkled, her face scrunching up as she thought about that. If she hadn't been so determined to be a ninja then she was sure she wouldn't be pushing it so hard now. Relaxing was definitely first on the list of things she'd do when she graduated.

"Yeah, though now I train a lot harder. Especially with my sword. Just got it too," Kanna yawned tiredly, snuggling into the warm grass. Yuka saw the opportunity and slowly fixed herself onto the other girls stomach so she could like down as well. She liked the warmth of the living more to the warmth of the sun. It just felt better.

"'Dis is 'ard," Yuka mumbled, not putting any effort into their conversation anymore. This sounded like the end of it anyways, and it wasn't like she knew what else to say.

"You'll get used to..." Kanna mumbled herself and soon they both fell asleep.


End file.
